the problem in my opinion is, those mechanics you mentioned are all in game and all can and usually need to be accounted for. i 100% agree with that and it was fun to learn new mechanics everytime a new weapon system came out. however, this does not work to its extend that it should in air RB. in sim it mostly does, not in air RB.
Lets take BVR for example. normally most jets should cruise around 5k-6k meters altitude. they use TWS to find and spot targets, soft lock it, launch a fox 3, and then start cranking/notching if someone shot at them with a missile.
now air rb basically goes in these directions:
you take off, climb, and get shot out of the sky because you cant notch 7 different missiles at the same time.
you take off, climb, get locked, decide to disengage and go cold, you roam around the edge of the furball a bit hoping for a lucky kill, and then most likely your team will either all have died, or will have roflstomped the enemy team.
you take off, dont climb, hopefully you survive the merge and first volley of ARH missiles and then its a free for all with everybody foaming at the mouth trying to be the one to get as many ‘sick frags’ as possible.
sure you can play it skillfully, but i hard disagree with the fact that its catered to skilled players.
i feel like the game is dumbed down, not in mechanics but in capabilities to cater to the lowest common denominator premium kiddo.
Because of the Arcade Mechanics in ARB, spotting system, missile diamonds. I would take them out if I could have my way BUT…this would probably kill ARB…I would leave the 3rd person camara and your 3rd person instrumentation displayed on screen, allied markers sure…but not for enemies…this in and of it self would make fox 2 missiles with range deadly. This would also make the learning gap even LARGER though.